0:02

This

0:02

is Pastor Matthew Harrison, President

0:04

of the Lutheran Church Missouri Synod. The

0:06

LCMS operates the second largest

0:09

parochial school system in the United States.

0:12

What can you expect from a Lutheran Church Missouri

0:14

Synod school? There's one race, the

0:16

human race. And Jesus died for

0:19

the sins of every man, woman, and

0:21

child from every land and every

0:23

nation. Life begins at conception.

0:26

All life is precious from womb to tomb,

0:29

and every student, parent, and teacher

0:31

is created in the very image of God.

0:34

There's right and wrong, and we know which

0:36

is which from the Ten Commandments.

0:38

There are only two sexes, male

0:41

and female. He created them. Marriage

0:43

is the lifelong union of one man

0:46

and one woman. There's

0:47

such a thing as objective, absolute

0:49

truth, and it's found in the person

0:51

and work of Jesus Christ and

0:54

His Word. To find a Lutheran Church

0:56

Missouri Synod school near you, visit

0:58

lcms.org slash schools.

1:25

The

1:45

Lutheran Public Radio Choir with the hymn,

1:47

The Church's One Foundation, it speaks

1:50

of recreating this

1:52

bride by watering the Word, a holy

1:55

bride bought with the blood of Jesus

1:58

Christ. Well, C.F.W.

2:01

Walter back in 1885 said, In

2:03

the 14th place the Word of God is not rightly divided

2:06

when the universal corruption of mankind is

2:08

described in such a manner as

2:11

to create the impression that even true believers

2:14

are still under the spell of ruling sins

2:16

and are sinning purposely, trying

2:19

to guard that passage, the holiness

2:22

of Christ's bride. Greetings

2:24

and welcome to Issues, etc., coming to you live

2:26

from the studios of Lutheran Public Radio in Collinsville,

2:28

Illinois. I'm Todd Wilkin. Thanks

2:31

for tuning us in. Pastor Will Whedon will

2:33

join us for Part 16 of our series on the proper distinction

2:35

between law and gospel. Then

2:37

in Hour 2, we'll look forward to Sunday morning, according to the three-year

2:40

electionary, The Great Commandment and

2:42

Whose Son is the Christ,

2:44

Pastor Sean Denzer, Director of Worship for

2:47

the Lutheran Church of Missouri Synod will be our guest.

2:50

Pastor Will Whedon is Assistant Pastor at St. Paul

2:52

Lutheran Church in Hamill, Illinois, formerly

2:54

served as Director of Worship for the Lutheran Church

2:56

of Missouri Synod. He's author of the books

2:59

Celebrating the Saints, Thank, Pray, Serve,

3:01

and Obey, and See My Savior's Hands, and

3:03

he hosts the daily 15-minute verse-by-verse

3:06

Bible study produced by Lutheran Public Radio called

3:09

The Word of the Lord Endures Forever. Will,

3:11

welcome back. Thank you, Todd. Enjoy to be with you.

3:14

In this 18th thesis, this was back

3:16

in 1885, it's almost like Walter

3:18

had a crystal ball and could look forward 120,

3:22

130 years to the current state of some

3:25

Lutheran theology in the United

3:27

States. Yeah, it is. What we

3:29

call the sort of soft antinomian movement,

3:31

if you will, is very much what

3:34

he has his guns trained on

3:36

in this particular thesis. And

3:38

he sees it as a danger, a temptation,

3:41

that any young pastor can easily

3:43

fall into, where he's just going

3:45

to try to describe, well, look, we're all

3:47

sinners. We're all sinners. Every

3:50

one of us fail. And yet, then

3:52

by seeing that, they give the impression

3:55

that a person can still be a Christian and

3:58

be under the power and influence of

4:00

some dominating ruling sin in

4:02

their life.

4:06

And Walter says, boys, we can't go there. He says you'll observe

4:09

that I'm speaking of the claim that the

4:11

universal of corruption of mankind

4:14

embraces living in

4:16

dominant and willful sins on the

4:18

part of believers. Of course, some believers are

4:20

living in dominant and willful

4:22

sins, but that the believer has

4:25

made peace with the sin in his life and

4:27

has gone over to that side and

4:29

continues as a believer. Walter says

4:31

that's just not possible. That's an improper

4:34

way of speaking or thinking about it.

4:37

So he urges, when addressing

4:39

a Christian congregation, you have

4:41

to be careful not to speak as

4:43

if also all Christians

4:46

were living in shame and

4:48

vice. Todd, I still

4:50

frequent a certain space on

4:53

the internet. This argument comes

4:55

up all the time. I mean, you can count

4:58

on certain pastors of not our

5:00

branch of the Lutheran Church to bring

5:02

this up and say, but we're all sinners.

5:05

We're all sinners anyway. So the

5:07

gospel is Christ forgives all

5:09

sin of all sinners. And it's like,

5:12

okay, that's true. Christ

5:14

has indeed forgiven the sins of the world.

5:17

But are you ever to preach repentance?

5:19

Are you ever to say to a person, you cannot continue

5:22

to sin that grace may abound like St. Paul

5:24

did? And the answer,

5:26

apparently, is no. You can never say that to

5:28

a person because we're all sinners

5:30

anyway. So Walter really goes after

5:33

this and he says, you guys need to make

5:35

plain to your hearers in all your

5:37

sermons that there are really

5:39

only two goals at

5:41

the end of this life. Heaven and

5:43

hell. There will be only two

5:46

sentences which are pronounced

5:48

on men. They're either going to end up in damnation

5:51

or they're going to end up in eternal life.

5:53

Accordingly, there are only two

5:55

classes of men present in

5:58

this human life right now. Those

6:00

of the one class are headed directly

6:03

for hell, and those of the other

6:05

are headed straight for heaven.

6:08

And he goes to passages where

6:10

Christ lays this out. The way broad

6:13

is the gate that leads to destruction, and there's

6:15

a whole bunch that enter into it. Because

6:18

narrow is the gate, narrow the way,

6:20

that leads to life, and there are few

6:22

who find it, Matthew 7, 13, and 14. So

6:26

he wants to stress this truth

6:29

to Christians. You really have to choose

6:31

which way you're going here, because you cannot

6:33

be walking toward God at the same

6:35

time you're running away from Him. You

6:38

can't head both directions at

6:40

once. So he turns to

6:42

several passages to sort of lay this out.

6:45

First of all, Romans 6, verse 14,

6:48

sin is not going to have dominion over you

6:50

because you are not under law, but

6:53

under grace. And he

6:55

adds, you know, what the apostle says in this text

6:57

is that sin is not going to be able

7:00

to dominate Christians. It's absolutely

7:03

impossible that a person who

7:05

is in a state of grace is being

7:08

ruled by sin. He

7:11

says, hey, a pilgrim traveling a

7:13

lonely road can be attacked. If

7:15

he's attacked by robbers on the road, he

7:18

tries to get away at his first chance.

7:20

He doesn't want to be overcome and

7:23

slain. Christians are pilgrims through

7:25

this world on their way to heaven, and the devil

7:27

is a highway robber who seeks to assault

7:30

them, and they go down before

7:32

him because of their weakness, not because

7:35

they meant to go down to a true Christian. His

7:37

fall is forgiven because he turns

7:39

to God in daily repentance with tears

7:42

or at least heartfelt signs for pardon.

7:45

If a person allows sin to rule him, it's

7:47

just a sure sign. He's not a Christian. He's

7:49

just a hypocrite, no matter how

7:51

pious he may pretend to be. Then

7:54

he moves on from Romans 6 to 1 Corinthians 6,

7:57

verses 7 to 11. Don't you

7:59

know that... the unrighteous will not inherit

8:01

the kingdom of God. Don't be

8:03

deceived. Neither fornicators, nor

8:06

adulterers, nor adulterers, nor feminine,

8:09

nor abusers of themselves with mankind, nor

8:11

thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards,

8:13

nor revilers, nor extortioners will

8:16

inherit the kingdom of God. And then

8:19

this beautiful verse, and such were

8:21

some of you, but you were washed,

8:24

but you were sanctified, but

8:26

you were justified in the

8:28

name of the Lord Jesus and by

8:30

the Spirit of our God. So Walter

8:32

adds, no one then who falls

8:34

into the aforementioned sins and fails

8:37

to repent of them, let me stress that, and

8:39

fails to repent of them, shall

8:41

inherit the kingdom of God. The

8:44

Christian's repentance consists in this,

8:46

that he desires to commit such sins

8:49

no more. Whoever commits these sins

8:51

intentionally, and by intentionally remember,

8:54

Walter means, embraces them, says, I don't

8:56

care whether God likes it or not, it's what I'm going to do. He's

8:58

just going to have to deal with it. That kind

9:01

of a response, he says, makes it clear you're

9:03

not a Christian, but you're a reprobate. You're

9:05

not moved by the Spirit of God, but you're

9:08

moved by the devil himself.

9:10

He moves into 2 Peter 2, for

9:13

if after they have escaped the

9:15

pollutions of the world to the knowledge of

9:17

the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, they again become

9:19

entangled there in and overcome. Well,

9:22

the latter end is worse than the beginning.

9:25

It would have been better never to have known the

9:27

way of righteousness than having known it, to

9:30

turn from the holy commandment delivered

9:32

to them. But it's happened to them according

9:34

to the true proverb, the dog turned

9:36

back to its own vomit, and

9:39

the pig has returned to wallowing

9:41

in the mire. So

9:44

he says, with this passage, we

9:46

really need to confront our Calvinist

9:49

brothers and sisters in particular, because

9:51

they say that a person who's once

9:53

obtained faith can never

9:56

lose it. And he's like,

9:58

well, you So here speaking

10:01

about people who were children of God and

10:03

they had a living knowledge of

10:05

the Lord Jesus and They'd

10:08

been in a state of grace So

10:10

how then can anyone really say that a

10:12

person who has been truly converted? Stays

10:15

convert it when like

10:17

Peter or David they fall into

10:20

some particular sin He

10:22

gives several other passages which

10:25

I'm just gonna skip down Just

10:27

mentioned the Romans 8 13 and 14 Galatians 5

10:31

19 to 21 and Ephesians 5 5 and 6 I do want to comment

10:33

on that It's

10:37

one of the epistles read during the church

10:40

here. It goes like this For

10:43

this, you know the know who are monger,

10:45

you know immoral person no unclean person

10:47

or covetous man Who is an idolater has

10:50

any inheritance in the kingdom of God and

10:52

of Christ? Let no man deceive

10:54

you with empty words for because

10:56

of these things the wrath of God comes

10:59

upon the children of disobedience and

11:02

he underlines this don't let anyone

11:04

deceive you and he says this

11:06

means don't listen to anyone

11:09

who tells you contrary to this unbelievers

11:12

will be damned for the reason

11:14

that they live in sins like the

11:16

ones he's listed above so he says

11:19

consider then if You want to live

11:21

in the same sins you will share

11:23

their faith in perdition This

11:25

Paul asks the Ephesians

11:28

to ponder So he

11:31

lays all this out beautifully from Scripture

11:33

and then he turns to a passage in the Lutheran

11:36

Confessions which we've already looked at in

11:38

this series, but it's so important that

11:40

it's worth hearing it again Let me read it to you.

11:42

It's from the small card articles part 3

11:44

article 4 paragraphs 42 to 45

11:47

on the other hand if

11:50

certain Sectarians were

11:52

to arise some of whom are

11:54

perhaps already extant and

11:56

in the time of the insurrection of the peasants

11:59

came under own observation,

12:01

holding that all those who had once received

12:04

the Spirit or the forgiveness of sins, or had become

12:06

believers, even though they should afterward

12:08

sin, would still remain in

12:10

the faith, and that such sin would not

12:12

harm them, and hence crying thus, do

12:15

whatever you want. If you believe, it

12:17

all amounts to nothing. Faith blots out all

12:20

sins, they say. Besides,

12:22

that if one sins after

12:24

he received faith in the Spirit, well

12:27

then maybe he never really had faith of the Spirit

12:29

to begin with. I have had

12:31

before me heard and seen many

12:34

such insane men, and I fear

12:36

that in some such a devil is still

12:39

remaining. It's therefore absolutely

12:42

necessary to know and teach that when holy

12:44

men, still having and feeling

12:46

original sin, and also daily

12:49

repenting and striving with it,

12:51

happen to fall into manifest sins, mortal

12:53

sins, which everyone recognizes as such, as

12:56

David into adultery, murder, blasphemy.

12:59

That faith in the Holy Spirit has then departed

13:01

from them, for the Holy Spirit does

13:03

not permit sin to have

13:06

dominion, to gain the

13:08

upper hand so as to be accomplished,

13:11

but represses and restrains

13:13

it, so that it must not do what it wishes.

13:16

But if it does what it wishes, the

13:18

Holy Spirit and faith were certainly not present.

13:21

St. John says in his first epistle 3 verse 9,

13:25

whoever is born of God

13:27

does not continue or does not practice

13:30

sin and he cannot practice sin,

13:32

and yet it's also true in the same St.

13:35

John says in his first epistle chapter 1

13:38

verse 8, if we say we

13:40

have no sin, we are just fooling

13:42

ourselves, deceiving ourselves, and the truth

13:44

is not in us. So

13:47

he lays it out there very beautifully from

13:49

the confessions, the point that he

13:52

wants this thesis to drive home to

13:54

his young hearers. Just

13:57

to put a cap on that with about a minute before

13:59

we take our break, He's really saying

14:01

that while the Christian may sin, the

14:03

Christian lives in daily repentance

14:06

and

14:06

someone who does not live in daily repentance cannot

14:09

claim to be a Christian. Exactly. Is that simple? That

14:11

is that simple. It's really that simple. It's like repentance

14:13

is not something you leave behind at the beginning of your Christian

14:16

life. It's something that accompanies a Christian

14:18

every day of their life. Pastor Will

14:20

Whedon is our guest. We'll go on to the next

14:23

evening lecture and the next thesis as we

14:25

distinguish between law and gospel. We'll

14:27

be back on this Monday the 23rd of October.

14:55

This is Pastor Matthew Harrison, president

14:58

of the Lutheran Church Missouri Synod. The

15:00

LCMS operates the second largest

15:02

parochial school system in the United States.

15:05

What can you expect from a Lutheran Church Missouri

15:07

Synod school? There's one race, the

15:10

human race, and Jesus died for

15:12

the sins of every man, woman, and

15:14

child from every land and every

15:16

nation. Life begins at conception.

15:19

All life is precious from womb to tomb

15:22

and every student, parent, and teacher

15:24

is created in the very image

15:27

of God. There's right and wrong

15:29

and we know which is which from the Ten Commandments.

15:32

There are only two sexes, male

15:34

and female, He created them. Marriage

15:37

is the lifelong union of one man

15:39

and one woman. There's such a thing as

15:41

objective absolute truth and

15:43

it's found in the person and work of Jesus

15:46

Christ and His Word. To

15:48

find a Lutheran Church Missouri Synod school near

15:50

you visit LCMS.org

15:53

slash schools. An

15:56

oasis in the desert of pop-american

15:59

Christianity. You're listening

16:01

to Issues Etc. What

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is better than a vacation to

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the emerald water and white sand of

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Destin, Florida, a Caribbean-caliber

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Gulf Coast destination without international

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travel hassles? What is better

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is receiving confessional Word and Sacrament

16:18

ministry at Grace Lutheran Church

16:21

while on vacation to the emerald

16:23

water and white sand of Destin, Florida,

16:26

Divine Service on Sundays at 930 a.m.

16:29

and on Advent and Lent Wednesdays at 6 p.m. GraceDestin.org

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Concordia University Chicago invites

16:37

all high school students to attend the annual Careers

16:39

for Christ weekend in person on

16:41

our beautiful campus in River Forest. Careers

16:44

for Christ is November 3rd through the 5th. You'll

16:46

have the opportunity to learn about professional church

16:49

vocations while having fun with CUC

16:51

staff, faculty, and students. For more

16:53

information, visit cuchicago.edu

16:57

forward slash c the number 4 c.

17:00

That is cuchicago.edu

17:02

forward slash c the number 4

17:04

c.

17:15

Welcome back to Issues Etc. I'm

17:18

Todd Wilkin, Pastor Will Whedon of the Word of the Lord and

17:20

Do Us Forever is our guest. It's part 16 of our

17:22

series on the proper distinction

17:25

between law and gospel. Will,

17:28

he begins his 31st evening

17:30

lecture bemoaning

17:32

the fact that there are many people, he says, in

17:34

Christendom baptized and unbaptized

17:37

who do not know what sin is. Why

17:40

does he go there? Well, because there's

17:42

a temptation to actually say,

17:44

well, a sin is a sin is a sin and

17:47

leave And when you do

17:49

that, you don't then take sin

17:51

very seriously. And that was the thing he was

17:53

really griping about was the way

17:56

that people treat it sin like just the satisfying

17:59

of a worldly act. appetite or

18:01

your bodily appetite would be a sin.

18:03

He's like, no, not at all. It's actually something

18:05

very distinct. So he lays out this thesis

18:08

that returns to something we'd already talked

18:10

about, but he goes into a very important

18:13

point about it here. Thesis

18:15

number 19 says, in the 15th place,

18:18

the word of God is not rightly

18:20

divided when the preacher speaks of

18:22

certain sins as if

18:25

they are not damnable

18:27

but venial in nature.

18:30

Now, you can't be a Lutheran

18:32

and not have the distinction between mortal

18:35

and venial sin. It's

18:37

taught very clearly in the Lutheran Confessions

18:40

in a number of places,

18:42

but

18:43

it's a gross misunderstanding

18:45

to think that a certain sin is

18:48

venial. That is, it's not going to

18:50

damn you in and of itself. This

18:53

is one of the big ahas Luther had, if you

18:55

remember, in the Heidelberg Disputation.

18:58

There is no such thing as a sin

19:00

that cannot bring you to hell. Every last

19:03

one of them, by rights, could

19:05

bring you there. What

19:07

makes a sin be venial is

19:09

not the sin itself, but how

19:12

a person in faith, repents

19:14

of it, turns to Jesus, and claims his blood

19:17

for the forgiveness of that sin. That's

19:20

what makes a sin be venial in the eyes of God.

19:23

He's going to work his way through it. Walter

19:25

here, we've already seen

19:28

that a distinction must be made between

19:30

mortal and venial sins. A person

19:32

failing to make this distinction does not

19:34

rightly divide the law in the Gospel, but

19:36

the distinction between these two kinds of sin

19:39

must be made with great care. It

19:42

must be clearly shown that

19:44

the distinction is made for the purpose

19:46

of proving that certain sins

19:49

expel the Holy Ghost from the believer.

19:51

When the Holy Spirit is driven out, faith too

19:54

is ejected, for no

19:56

one can come to faith or retain

19:58

faith without the Holy Spirit.

20:00

sins which expel the Holy Spirit

20:03

and bring on spiritual death are therefore called

20:05

mortal sins. Anyone

20:09

who has been a Christian will readily perceive

20:11

when the Holy Spirit is departed from him by

20:14

his inability to offer up childlike

20:16

prayers to God and to

20:18

resist sin stoutly and bravely

20:20

as he used to. He will feel as if he

20:23

had become chained to sin like a slave.

20:26

It is a good thing if he has at least

20:28

the knowledge of this condition. For thus

20:30

he may be brought back to God, but

20:32

while this condition endures, he is just

20:34

not in communion with God. Venial

20:37

sins are terms such as Christians

20:39

commit without forfeiting

20:42

the indwelling of the Holy Spirit.

20:45

Their sins of weakness or of rashness

20:48

frequently are called the daily

20:51

sins of Christians. Jesus gave

20:53

us the Lord's Prayer and from the word daily bread

20:55

and it is clear he intended us to pray this thing

20:57

every day. And so every day Christians

20:59

pray forgive us our trespasses as

21:02

we forgive those who trespass against us. We're

21:04

not pretending that we are without

21:06

sin.

21:07

So

21:08

while inculcating this distinction

21:10

upon our hearers, we must be scrupulously

21:13

careful not to create the notion

21:15

in them that venial

21:18

sins are sins about

21:20

which a person need not be

21:22

greatly concerned and for which

21:24

he doesn't have to ask forgiveness. A

21:27

preacher who leaves his hearers to entertain

21:29

this view becomes the cause of their perdition.

21:32

He makes them carnally secure

21:35

and drives the fear of God

21:37

from their hearts out. That

21:39

is one powerful charge that he lays

21:42

there. So he says that's not the

21:44

true evangelical way of preaching about these sins

21:46

nor is it in general a true evangelical

21:49

notion that only he is a real

21:51

evangelical preacher who does not

21:53

preach the law a great deal. Both

21:55

law and the gospel have to be preached. The

21:58

one in its sternness, the other in its sweetness, a

22:00

preacher who doesn't preach both doesn't

22:02

deserve the name of being an evangelical

22:05

minister, but is a false

22:07

leader and is sowing the gospel

22:10

as if you were casting wheat into the ocean, where

22:12

no crop can be raised.

22:14

It happens only too often that

22:17

preachers, when speaking of the distinction

22:20

between venial and mortal sins,

22:22

create the impression that

22:25

to Christians venial

22:27

sins are matters over which

22:29

they need not worry. Since

22:33

all are sinners and no one

22:35

ever gets rid of sin entirely, there's

22:38

no reason why one should feel disturbed

22:40

because of these sins. A lot

22:43

of that kind of talk is really awful

22:46

and ungodly. He

22:48

turns to Matthew 5 in the Sermon

22:51

on the Mount, where Jesus says, truly

22:54

I say to you heaven and earth will pass away, but not

22:56

one shot, not one tittle shall

22:59

in any wise pass from the law until

23:01

it is fulfilled. So whoever breaks

23:04

one of these commandments, the least

23:06

of them, and teaches men to do

23:08

that, he'll be called least in

23:10

the kingdom of heaven. But whoever does

23:13

them and teaches them, that one's going to

23:15

be called great in the kingdom of heaven. Walter

23:17

comments on that. This is one of the

23:19

most terrifying sayings in the Bible. The

23:22

Lord does not say, he shall be

23:25

the least, but shall be called the

23:27

least. And the least here means the

23:29

most reprobate or the one

23:31

whom God does not acknowledge as his

23:33

own. That will be the sentence

23:36

passed on him in the kingdom of God

23:38

and Christ. Therefore, you

23:40

should with trembling approach

23:42

the task of preaching both the gospel and

23:45

the law, do not speak of

23:47

one jot of the law of one

23:49

of the so-called least commandments

23:52

as a something about which a Christian

23:55

does not need to be greatly

23:57

concerned. He said, a

23:59

true Christian didn't manifest himself as

24:02

a person who fears to

24:04

commit a single sin. And

24:07

the Lord also speaks of the person who leads people

24:09

so straight who teach men to do

24:12

that. He says, bad enough when

24:14

you do it on your own part and you disregard

24:17

and lead a careless life, but when you

24:19

teach other people your lax views,

24:21

he says, then you're leading them to perdition

24:24

by the very way that you're preaching.

24:27

And he says, this is kind of awkward

24:29

because Luther had a different translation than the one

24:31

in our common English versions, but Psalm 56

24:34

verse 7, Luther had what evil

24:36

we do is already forgiven. In other words,

24:39

don't worry about it. It's all taken care

24:41

of. God's going to forgive it all. And

24:43

he says, that's the slogan of the wicked.

24:46

Just as it is the easy going way of unconverted

24:48

people to speak of their iniquities like this.

24:51

Now, I can easily make amends

24:53

and grass will soon grow over it. And Walter

24:55

says, no, grass will grow

24:58

over nothing for which forgiveness

25:01

has not been asked of God. He

25:04

turns to another passage in Matthew 12 verse 36

25:07

where our Lord says, I

25:09

tell you every idle word

25:11

that people speak, they're going to have to give

25:13

an account of on the day of judgment.

25:16

He says, so here you got a concrete example.

25:19

Here shown in this text, how abominable

25:22

it is to speak of sins which

25:24

are in themselves venial and

25:27

are automatically remitted because God doesn't

25:29

regard them as being all that great.

25:32

He says, people who speak like that, they

25:35

make the holy and righteous God like

25:37

the feeble old man Eli who

25:39

saw his son's sin and merely said,

25:41

no, my sons, this is not wise.

25:44

You know, first Samuel two 24 thinking

25:46

that that by saying that he'd done

25:48

his whole duty, he says, look, God

25:50

is love. Of course, he's

25:53

also holiness and he is righteousness

25:56

and to the person who rises up against

25:59

him. God becomes a terrifying

26:02

fire and in his fiery

26:04

wrath pursues the sinner to the

26:06

lowest hell. Let

26:08

men of the world ridicule and scorn

26:11

this teaching, but they will have to

26:13

pay dearly for their laughter like

26:16

the men of Sodom did in Genesis 19. Any

26:20

evil word for which his sinners tried

26:22

on the day of judgment is sufficient

26:24

for his condemnation. Let me say that just one

26:26

more time, right? Any evil

26:29

word that a sinner utters

26:31

is sufficient for

26:34

his damnation, his condemnation.

26:38

That is a word from Jesus that's

26:40

designed to put fear and trembling in us

26:43

because we tend to excuse the words that

26:45

we speak as being the least of all the sins

26:47

of our life. Well, Jesus makes it clear, hey, they're

26:51

not little and for them, of course,

26:53

he would also have to die. And

26:55

then the passage that really nails this

26:58

whole thing down is James chapter 2

27:00

verse 10. So

27:03

anyone who keeps the whole law

27:05

and fails at one point becomes guilty

27:08

of it all. So

27:11

according to this text, if a person

27:13

had kept, say, 999 of

27:16

the thousand commandments, he

27:20

would still be guilty of the whole

27:22

law. That applies to

27:24

every one of the so-called venial

27:27

sins. That means that a

27:30

Christian must clearly understand

27:32

this fact that even

27:35

these little sins that we think of as

27:37

not being so bad in the

27:39

eyes of God, they are enough to drag

27:41

us down to hell. What constitutes a

27:44

person as a Christian is this

27:46

believing knowledge that he is in

27:48

the first place, a miserable, accused sinner who

27:50

would be lost forever if Christ had not

27:52

died for him. And then in the second place,

27:55

Jesus Christ, true God, begotten of the Father from eternity

27:57

and also true man born of the Virgin Mary has redeemed

27:59

him. lost and condemned creature and

28:01

purchased in one him from all sins

28:04

from death and from the power of the devil a Christian

28:07

must regard himself as a lost and

28:09

condemned sinner on his own or all his

28:11

talk about faith Walter says just so much

28:14

babble. Pastor Will Whedon is

28:16

our guest it's part 16 of our

28:18

series on the proper distinction between law

28:21

and gospel we'll go on to the 20th thesis

28:23

in the 16th place the Word of God

28:25

is not rightly divided when a person's salvation

28:28

is made to depend on his associations with

28:30

the visible Orthodox Church salvation

28:33

is denied to every person who errs in

28:36

any article of faith

28:50

right now many churches are planning their budgets

28:52

for the next fiscal year you can promote

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your confessional Lutheran Church and support

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the worldwide outreach of issues etc

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29:06

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29:08

etc journal learn more on the

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support donate page at issues etc

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deadline become an issues etc congregational

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sponsor this week

29:20

on the word of the Lord endures forever we are

29:22

rolling right along in our adventures and acts with

29:25

almost persuaded Paul

29:27

sales for Rome a fateful

29:29

decision Paul's I told

29:32

you so and approaching

29:34

land join me pastor will

29:36

whedon for the word of the Lord endures forever

29:39

your daily 15-minute verse-by-verse

29:42

Bible study on demand listen

29:44

at the word indoors org or your

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favorite podcast provider the

29:49

Gospels reports Jesus saying some

29:51

rather shocking things for instance in Luke 14

29:53

he tells his disciples if anyone comes to me

29:55

and does not hate his own father and mother and wife and

29:58

children and brothers and sisters yes and even his

32:01

Attending church is extremely important to

32:03

mental health. Church is where people

32:06

hear God's Word through the pastor

32:09

that their sins are forgiven. They receive the

32:11

sacrament. They are nourished in their faith by

32:13

the company of fellow believers. And

32:15

more prosaically, but important to mental

32:18

health, the church is full of friendly people, the

32:20

body of Christ. That's from the Issues

32:22

Etc. Book of the Month for October, Martin

32:25

Luther on mental health. It's

32:27

at our website issuesetc.org

32:30

or call Concordia Publishing House and order Martin

32:32

Luther on mental health practical advice

32:35

for Christians today 1-800-325-3040 1-800-325-3040.

32:39

It's part 16 of our series on the proper distinction between law

32:45

and gospel. Pastor Will Whedon is our guest.

32:49

What does Walther have to say in the 20th thesis

32:51

here? This one begins with

32:54

actually a long history of what they've

32:56

just come out of, what Christianity has

32:58

just come out of experiencing, and it helps

33:00

explain the nature of why the need

33:02

for this thesis arose. So he

33:05

mentions that after rationalism

33:07

pretty much wrecked the church, when

33:09

everybody kind of thought, well I guess the church

33:12

is more or less just dead and morbid right

33:14

now, well a confessional

33:16

revival began. There was a fellow,

33:19

a pastor named Klaus Harms, and in the

33:21

year 1817, he begins a real confessional

33:25

revival. He says your

33:27

purpose is to make the poor handmaid, the Lutheran

33:30

Church, rich by a marriage to the reformed he means,

33:32

and he says don't perform it over Luther's grave.

33:35

Life's going to come back into his bones and then woe

33:37

to you. Well sort of like did happen.

33:40

A confessional revival began and people

33:43

began taking very seriously the

33:45

big questions of truth and

33:48

Walter's like those were really beautiful, wonderful,

33:50

glorious days at the beginning of the 19th century.

33:53

It's interesting, Todd, it also shows up sort of in hymnody.

33:55

The church doesn't have a lot of hymns

33:57

about herself. Before the 19th century...

34:00

century. But in the 19th century,

34:02

everybody's asking the big question about what's

34:05

the church? What's the church? And so you've

34:07

got the start of the Confessional Revival

34:09

in Germany and in England you've got the

34:11

Tractarian Movement going on. You've got

34:13

people that begin to switch confessions like

34:15

Newman heading from Anglicanism into Rome.

34:18

This whole time of sifting,

34:20

if you will, in the church was what

34:23

Walter was specifically dealing with. And

34:25

there's a really insidious

34:28

argument that happens where

34:31

the Lutherans didn't want to have

34:33

some sort of an inferiority complex. So

34:36

if Rome or the Orthodox

34:38

are saying that they are the

34:41

alone-saving church, and it's hard

34:43

for us to picture in these days of Vatican II

34:45

that they said if they actually did say that very clearly,

34:49

when that's being said the Lutherans finally

34:51

sort of said, well we're the true visible

34:53

church on earth and they meant by that what

34:55

some of these Lutherans in Germany were meaning was

34:58

we're the true Orthodox

35:00

church that you need to be affiliated with

35:02

to be saved. And Walter's like

35:05

whoa whoa whoa whoa. This

35:07

is a shame that the Confessional Revival

35:09

ended up here because

35:11

that was a false statement and it's

35:13

wrong. And he warns his

35:16

young pastors there to

35:18

beware of this. I remember we used

35:20

to have a really wonderful godly

35:22

member in our church. Her name was Alice,

35:25

Alice Severs. And Alice, she

35:28

told me when she was a little kid, she

35:30

just you know she'd be crying for her

35:33

cousins who were in the Reformed Church because they

35:35

weren't going to go to heaven. It was so

35:37

sad. And Walter's like this is

35:39

the kind of idea we got to wash out of our people

35:42

entirely. If we give them the

35:44

impression that by their association

35:47

with the Lutheran Church as the alone-saving

35:50

church they're going to make it into heaven, we've

35:52

given them a totally false impression. And

35:55

the same thing when they're dealing with the

35:57

temptations to switch to other

35:59

churches. that will always purport themselves to

36:01

be the true visible church

36:03

of Christ here on earth. We have to be able

36:06

to come back with a response that the

36:08

church is not to be found in

36:11

a given fellowship of people. Wherever

36:13

the Word of God is doing its

36:15

work proclaiming Jesus Christ

36:18

and His salvation, the Holy Spirit is busy

36:21

connecting hearts to the Savior.

36:23

And wherever that's happening, even if

36:25

there's error happening right there with it,

36:28

we still see and recognize the

36:30

church of Jesus Christ is there. And we

36:33

never want to in any way diminish

36:35

that truth that there are

36:38

Christians in all of these different churches

36:40

where the Word of God is active. That's

36:43

what He's trying to get at in this thesis.

36:45

Your salvation as a Christian does

36:48

not hang on you having

36:50

guessed the correct answer to

36:53

which is the true visible church

36:55

of Christ here on this earth. He

36:58

turns to demonstrate this, first

37:00

of all, to Ephesians chapter 2.

37:04

Now therefore you are no longer

37:06

strangers and foreigners. You are fellow

37:08

citizens with the saints and you're members

37:11

of the household of God and you're built

37:13

upon the foundation of the apostles and

37:15

prophets, Christ Jesus Himself being

37:18

the chief cornerstone on whom

37:20

the whole building fitly framed

37:23

together grows into a holy temple

37:25

in the Lord in whom you're being built

37:27

together for a dwelling place of God

37:30

in the Spirit. So

37:33

Walter makes it clear there, no

37:35

one's built upon the foundation of the apostles

37:37

and prophets who doesn't believingly

37:39

cling to their word. Hence

37:42

no one is a member of the church who's

37:44

without living faith. He

37:47

notes the Savior calls Himself the bridegroom.

37:50

So let the one who is betrothed

37:52

to Christ not then claim

37:55

that they're not a member of the church

37:58

just because they're not a member of some right or right. Orthodox

38:00

believing body. But

38:03

Christ is called the head of the church, so

38:05

only a person can be a member of the church into

38:07

whom there flows from Christ the head,

38:10

light and life and strength and grace.

38:13

He says whoever doesn't have this real inner

38:15

spiritual connection with Christ doesn't

38:17

have Christ for a head. Whoever is his

38:19

own ruler and isn't governed by Christ

38:21

does not belong to the church. Only

38:24

that person is a member of the church who experiences

38:27

the constant outflowing of

38:30

energy from Christ the head

38:32

of the church. Similarly when he calls

38:34

the church his flock, remember he describes

38:36

the church as those who hear my voice,

38:39

that's very clear. And when he tells the

38:41

parable, he describes that

38:44

in the true church of Christ you've got wheat and tares

38:46

growing. His picture is very much, he

38:48

states that the field is the world. In this

38:51

world, what you can see in this world, you're

38:53

always going to have believers and unbelievers

38:55

mixed and mashed together. That's going

38:57

to be the fact of it. And he says the apology

39:00

to the Oxford Confession really emphasizes

39:03

this fact. The Savior likens

39:05

his church to a field in which wheat

39:07

and tares grow together, to a net

39:09

in which good and bad fish are caught,

39:12

to a marriage feast in which foolish versions

39:14

come with others and to

39:16

which according in another parable one

39:19

gained entrance who was not dressed in the

39:21

proper wedding attire. He says

39:23

by means of all these parables, Jesus

39:25

doesn't mean to describe the essence

39:28

of the church, but it's outward

39:30

form as it appears in this world.

39:33

It's lot among men in this world.

39:36

It's really only composed of good

39:39

sheep, only of regenerate persons.

39:42

Still it never presents itself in the

39:44

form of a congregation that's made up of none

39:46

but true Christians. In

39:49

its visible form, the church can

39:51

never purge itself of hypocrites

39:53

and ungodly persons who will inevitably,

39:56

invariably find their

39:58

way into it. So, you

40:00

can see people going to church, but

40:02

you can't see whether or not they belong to the

40:05

church proper, to the

40:07

invisible church that's constituted by

40:09

the gift of faith in people's hearts, the

40:12

gift from the Spirit, binding them in

40:14

faith to the Lord Jesus Christ. No

40:16

man, only God alone knows who really

40:18

is in the church. But if he says, you

40:20

make a person's salvation dependent on

40:23

getting the membership right and being in communion with

40:25

the right, visible Orthodox church,

40:27

you're throwing overboard the doctrine

40:30

of justification by faith. Faith

40:33

has been obtained for people before they

40:35

joined the Lutheran church. It's

40:37

a fatal mistake to think that Luther,

40:40

before becoming a Lutheran, didn't

40:42

have the right faith. That's not true.

40:45

Though we esteem our church highly, may

40:48

this abominable fanatical notion

40:50

be far from us that

40:52

the Lutheran church is the only

40:55

saving church. The true

40:57

church extends through the world, and

41:00

you can find it in all the sects.

41:03

It's not merely an external

41:05

organism with peculiar arrangements

41:07

on which a person must adapt himself in

41:10

order to become a member of the church. Anyone

41:12

who believes in Jesus and is a member

41:15

of his spiritual body is a member

41:17

of the church. This church, moreover,

41:20

is never divided. Although its members

41:22

are separated from one another by space

41:24

and time, this church is

41:27

always one. He

41:29

really wants to stress this whole

41:31

thing and at the same time wants

41:34

to warn off from the danger of thinking, oh, well

41:36

then it doesn't really matter if I have, you know, if my church

41:38

teaches something false. He's like, no, if

41:40

you really love Christ, you're going to care

41:43

very much if your church teaches

41:45

only what's true and in accord with the word of God,

41:47

and you're going to seek that church, which teaches

41:50

and practices that way. Pastor

41:53

Will Whedon is our guest. He hosts

41:56

the daily 15-minute Verse by Verse

41:58

Bible study produced by Lutheran Public Radio. Called

42:00

the Word of the Lord endures forever. We

42:03

will move on to the 33rd evening lecture

42:05

and its attendant thesis thesis 21

42:08

next

42:27

Today is the issues etcetera book of the month for October.

42:30

It's written by Lutheran layman, dr. Steven Sanders, professor

42:32

of psychology at Marchett, University,

42:40

Martin Luther on mental health is published by Concordia

42:42

Publishing House their phone number 1-800-325-3040

42:45

or learn more at issues etcetera book of the month

42:47

for October. Martin Luther on mental

42:49

health. The

42:53

Lutheran

42:55

Church Missouri

42:57

Senate cares deeply for those who protect

42:59

our nation. Are you or a loved one currently

43:01

serving ministry to the armed forces

43:03

would like to help. We provide devotional literature to encourage you to be a part

43:06

of the community. To encourage face send

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your mailing address to LCMS chaps

43:10

at LCMS org or call

43:13

us at 314-996-1337

43:16

those in uniform are comforted with Psalm 28

43:19

the Lord is my strength and my shield

43:22

my heart trusts in him and he helps

43:24

me. One

43:27

Lord one faith one

43:29

baptism you're listening to

43:32

issues etc.

43:33

Criticism I just had to call

43:35

in to respond to this week's installment

43:38

of never Trump drivel from

43:41

Terry Mattingly compliments. I love

43:44

the interviews and insights because they help me battle

43:46

us slings and arrows of outrageous

43:48

theology in practice clarification.

43:51

Is there a point where without baptism

43:53

infants go to heaven and after which time

43:56

they go to hell if they're not baptized the

43:58

issues that set or a comment.

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line 618-223-8382.

44:04

Our Christian faith is under constant attack

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and we must be proactive in keeping our

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children in the church. At Faith Lutheran

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44:13

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we provide in-person and live

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through grade 12. To learn more, visit

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flsplano.org. Flsplano.org.

44:32

Welcome back. I'm Todd Wilkin.

44:34

This is issues that set up. Pastor

44:48

Will Wheaton is our guest,

44:50

part 16 of our series on

44:52

the proper distinction between law and gospel. In

44:56

this 23rd evening lecture, some time has passed.

45:00

He has to deal with the fact that some

45:03

of his audience at least have not heard the 25 preceding

45:06

theses from him, but he

45:09

has to finish five more. So

45:11

that's a great point. We

45:14

skipped from June in 1885 to September

45:16

4th in 1885. So

45:20

the previous series, it's been a while

45:22

since even the other students

45:24

who heard all the theses have been together. So it's

45:27

going to take time to help them remember everything

45:29

he saw. He's got to bring the new guys up to speed.

45:31

He does that too. This particular

45:34

concern of this thesis though

45:37

is one that's very pertinent

45:39

in our own day. Our Saint

45:42

Paul McKeen used to say

45:44

that there's this temptation to

45:46

preach these days that runs like

45:49

the outline is. You're a sinner. God's

45:52

got forgiveness for you because of what Christ did for you

45:54

on the cross. So come and take communion. He

45:57

used to rag on that nonstop. There's

46:00

something missing there, and

46:02

there's something missing is what Walter's getting at

46:05

in this thesis. In the 17th

46:07

place, the Word of God is not rightly

46:09

divided. When men are taught

46:11

that the sacraments produce salutary

46:14

effects ex opere operetto,

46:17

I think we could almost just translate that

46:19

automatically just by using them. That

46:21

is by the mere outward performance of

46:24

the sacramental act. In other

46:26

words, baptism saves

46:29

and communion saves just

46:32

because you received it or participate in it. He

46:36

needs to show that's actually not what our

46:38

church has ever taught or believed because that's

46:40

not what the Word of God actually

46:42

teaches. In all of these

46:44

sacraments, what you have is God

46:47

reaching a promise to the

46:49

person who receives them, and the promise

46:52

itself must be believed.

46:54

That's just so clear that you

46:56

couldn't do much more harm than by telling people

46:59

that it's their outward act of receiving

47:01

the sacrament that really saves them rather

47:04

than their trust in the promise God's laying

47:06

on them there in that act. Big,

47:09

big difference. This is why when people

47:11

say, well, I thought it said that I

47:13

only had to believe, and Luther and I will say, yes, you

47:15

do only have to believe. Believe

47:17

the promise God makes you in your

47:20

baptism. Believe the promise He makes you in

47:22

the holy absolution. Believe the promise He makes

47:24

you when you receive His body

47:27

and blood. Because he had to review

47:29

everything in this lecture, Todd, he

47:31

barely starts in the

47:33

first one. The 34th evening

47:36

lecture on September 11th, a week later

47:38

in 1885, he gets around to the meat

47:42

of what this thesis is really all

47:44

about. He just points to how over and

47:46

over again the sacraments as visible words

47:48

have promises attached

47:51

to them which must be believed.

47:54

For example, you have Christ say, go

47:56

and preach the gospel to all creation.

47:59

and is baptized will

48:02

be saved, and whoever does not believe will

48:04

be condemned." Similarly,

48:07

you have the passage in Galatians 3

48:10

talking about baptism. "...You are

48:12

all the children of God by faith in

48:14

Jesus Christ, for as many of you

48:17

as have been baptized into Christ have

48:19

put on Christ." Walter comments.

48:22

So this text shows that Christ is put on

48:24

in baptism only if a person believes.

48:27

An unbeliever who receives baptism

48:30

does not put on Christ, but

48:32

keeps on the spotted garment of his

48:34

sinful flesh. And then of course

48:36

in the supper itself, he turns

48:39

to the words of institution and he highlights

48:41

the most important words of all. The

48:43

temptation I think is for people to hear the most

48:46

important words as, this is

48:48

my body and this is my blood. But

48:50

the most important words are, given

48:53

for you, shed for you

48:55

for the forgiveness of your sin.

48:58

So Walter specifically accents

49:01

that. It's plain

49:03

that what he means to say is the point

49:06

of chief importance is

49:08

that you believe that this body was given

49:11

for you and that this blood

49:13

was shed for you for the remission

49:16

of your sins. That's what you

49:18

must believe if you wish to derive

49:20

the real blessing from this

49:23

heavenly feast. And he says, by the

49:25

additional remarks, do this in remembrance of me,

49:28

Christ means to say, do it in

49:30

faith. Surely he does not mean

49:32

to say, think of me when

49:34

you partake of my body and blood. Don't forget

49:36

me altogether. Whoever thinks

49:39

that Christ merely admonished his disciples

49:41

not to consign him to oblivion

49:44

obviously does not know the Savior.

49:46

The true remembrance of Christ consists

49:50

in the believing reflection

49:52

of the communicant. This is the body

49:55

he gave for me. This

49:58

is the blood he poured out

50:00

for me so that my sins

50:02

could be forgiven." And that's

50:05

what gives me the confidence to

50:07

approach him at his altar.

50:10

He says, if you imagine that by going to communion,

50:13

you've once again done your duty,

50:16

and that God's going to regard your performance,

50:19

he says, well then, you're going to communion is

50:21

a damnable act, and it will

50:23

lead you into eternal perdition.

50:25

He says, what really should urge

50:27

a person to go to communion is the promise

50:31

of grace, which God has attached

50:33

to the visible sign of this sacrament.

50:36

So he's like, people in

50:38

the Lutheran church, yes, we

50:41

hold the sacraments in the highest

50:44

terms, the highest respect, and

50:46

there's no question that the fanatics, by

50:48

which he would mean any of the Protestants

50:51

who disagree with us about what Scripture says

50:53

about the sacraments, they're disgusted

50:55

with our stand on it. He says, but

50:57

the Lutheran church regards the holy

50:59

sacraments as the most precious, glorious,

51:03

sacred treasures on earth, and is firmly

51:05

convinced that God is not a miserable

51:07

master of ceremonies who decrees rites

51:10

that we're to observe when receiving a person

51:12

into our communion. Christianity, he says, is

51:14

no Masonic society. When

51:17

God commands a sacramental act, he

51:19

commands something upon which

51:21

our salvation depends. But

51:24

at no time has the Lutheran

51:26

church asserted that men are

51:29

saved merely by

51:31

the external use of the

51:33

sacraments. That is a teaching against

51:36

which our church has always,

51:38

across the centuries, raised its

51:41

protest. It's always been condemned

51:44

and rejected. Baptism, according

51:46

to Lutheran teaching, is not

51:48

regeneration itself. Baptism

51:51

affects regeneration. It

51:53

produces it. It's

51:55

a means of regeneration.

52:00

goes through a number of places in the Lutheran

52:03

confessions that point to this same thing,

52:05

that when we're dealing with the sacraments, the

52:07

principal thing is that we hear and

52:10

trust the promise which God

52:12

attaches to the action and

52:15

trust that promise, and that is

52:17

the salutary use of every sacrament.

52:20

He ends that lecture and that subject

52:22

by saying, when a person has fallen

52:24

from his faith and baptismal

52:27

grace, we do not tell him to construct a new

52:29

ship for himself in which to continue

52:31

his voyage to heaven, but to

52:33

return to his faith in baptism, which

52:36

is a covenant that remains unshaken because God

52:38

does not cancel his word of promise, which

52:41

he has pledged to the baptized.

52:43

With about a minute, why does he end

52:45

on that note? Well, he's pulling it from the large

52:47

catechism, right? And the picture is,

52:50

yeah, you know, if you fall out of the

52:52

ship, which is holy baptism, carrying

52:55

you to the heavenly harbor, he says

52:57

the solution is not to try to make a second

52:59

ship. The solution is, when I can get on the ship,

53:01

hold tight to it, till you're pulled back in. And

53:04

so he says, as long as we live in this life,

53:06

we always have access to the

53:08

grace of God that was promised to us in our

53:10

baptism. We need to return to it, cling to

53:12

it, hold it tight, and in

53:15

that faith, experience the blessings

53:17

that it can be and will deliver to us most

53:19

surely on the last day. Pastor

53:22

Will Weeden is assistant pastor at St. Paul Lutheran

53:24

Church in Hamill, Illinois. He formerly

53:26

served as director of worship for the Lutheran Church of Missouri

53:29

Synod. He's author of the books, Celebrating

53:31

the Saints, Thank, Pray, Serve, and Obey, and

53:33

See My Savior's Hands. And he hosts

53:35

the daily 15 minute verse by verse Bible study

53:38

called The Word of the Lord endures forever.

53:41

Will, thank you very much. Thank you, Todd. In

53:43

our two of issues, etc., we're looking forward to Sunday

53:45

morning, according to the three-year electionary

53:48

to Matthew 22, the Great Commandment and

53:50

the question, whose son is the

53:52

Christ? Listen

54:01

weekday afternoons to Pastor Todd Wilkin

54:03

and guests on Issues Etc. Issues

54:05

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54:08

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54:15

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54:17

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54:22

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54:25

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54:29

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54:32

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54:41

The

54:43

grace of God, the church's music, the

54:45

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54:48

teaching Christ crucified and risen, our

54:50

hope for years to come, there is hope

54:52

in St. Louis, Hope

54:54

Lutheran Church that is, 5218 Neosha

54:58

Street, St. Louis, Missouri. Find us

55:00

on the web at HopeLutheranSTL.org.

55:09

I am beautiful because

55:12

I am fearfully

55:13

and wonderfully made. I

55:15

am accepted because I'm a part of his

55:17

family through Jesus' shed blood. Unity

55:20

Lutheran School in East St. Louis, Illinois,

55:23

shines the light of Christ in one of the most impoverished

55:26

cities in America. Learn how to support

55:28

their mission work at UnityESL.org. UnityESL.org.

55:34

Today with the help of the

55:37

Holy Spirit,

55:38

I say yes to God

55:41

in his way.